Chardonnay and Herb Grilled Chicken

The hardest part of the cooking took place when I braved the 15 degree weather to grill up the chicken and asparagus

Looks amazing doesn't it. This dinner is a perfect example of easy, healthy and inexpensive. The meal is composed of three things: grilled marinated chicken, seasoned and flavored whole wheat couscous and grilled asparagus. All the flavors went together flawlessly.

The core of the whole meal was the chardonnay and herb marinade which we used on the chicken and the couscous. No recipe is needed though because I had help with the marinade. Thanks to SuperTarget and Archer Farms marinades, dinner went from a 2 star dish to 5 star masterpiece. Archer Farms makes an entire wall of marinades, rubs and sauces. If you read the ingredients, you see they use actual seasonings instead of artificial flavors. The chardonnay marinade has chardonnay, parsley, thyme, vinegar, water, etc. Most important of all, there is no added sugar so the marinade is healthy. I'm going to break each part of the dish down in to its own section to help keep the recipe organized. You can mix and match the parts with other dishes if you choose to as well.

Chardonnay and Herb Chicken

• 2-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 jar Archer Farms Chardonnay and Herb marinade

1. Defrost chicken if needed. Add half of the jar of marinade in to a shallow container or ziploc bag.
2. Add chicken to marinade. Let it soak for 2-4 hrs.
3. Grill the chicken at med-hi heat for 6. Flip chicken, pour some marinade from jar over the chicken. Cook for 6 more min.
4. Remove chicken. Place on plate and cover with aluminum foil. Let it sit for 10 min.

The important part here is to keep an eye on your chicken. Cook it long enough to make it safe but don't dry it out or burn it. My grilling times are approximate since your grill could be hotter than the one I used. Learn to let your meat rest after grilling. If you cut in to your meat right after you remove it from the grill, you will lose all the juice and flavor. You might as well marinate a cereal box and eat that. Resting the chicken allows the juices to be soaked up, and the aluminum foil help keep the heat in and help finish cooking the chicken. If you are worried about undercooked meat, invest in a thermometer until you develop a sense of how long chicken needs to cook.

Spicy Chardonnay and Herb Couscous

• 1 jar Archer Farms Chardonnay and Herb marinade
• 1 box of whole wheat couscous
• 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tbsp butter

1. Pour 2 tbsp of marinade in to bottom of small sauce pan. Warm the sauce over medium heat.
2. Add butter and heat until it melts.
3. Follow the instructions on the couscous box for preparation. After pouring the recommended amount of water to the pan, add the red pepper flakes.

My couscous asked for 1 cup of water to be boiled in the pan. Then the couscous was to be added to the boiling water. I was only making 2 servings of couscous. Also keep in mind that the red pepper flakes will add a small hint of spice and not an overwhelming amount of heat. If you are nervous about doing this to your couscous, read up about boiling pasta in my other post.

4. If you follow the instructions on the container, your couscous should be done.

Grilled Asparagus

• 1 bunch of asparagus
• salt
• black pepper, preferably freshly cracked)
  
• olive oil
• 1/4 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp Chicken seasoning (such as McCormick Montreal Chicken seasoning)
• enough aluminum foil to wrap asparagus spears
  

1. Place asparagus on top of aluminum foil.
2. Drizzle olive oil over all the spears to lightly coat. Season the asparagus with salt and pepper.
3. Place half of the butter by the stalk of the asparagus and the other half by the pointed spear end.
4. Season the asparagus with the thyme and chicken seasoning.
5. Wrap the asparagus with the foil so that none of the liquids can escape. Place it on the grill for 6-8 mins.
6. Carefully open the aluminum foil and place the asparagus directly on the grilling surface. Let it grill until the grill marks start to show on the green. Be careful not to burn the tips of the asparagus.

You are done with a complete meal. Beginning to end, it should not take you longer than twenty minutes to prepare. I'm not counting the time needed to preheat the grill or marinate the chicken. Seriously though, this was one of the best grilled chicken meals I've had in a long time. The herbs were singing in every bite and the glass of unoaked Chardonnay went well with the meal. You don't have to brave cold weather to grill this dish. I'm sure you can bake the chicken in the marinade but I'm a man that loves grilling chicken. George Foreman was a man after my own heart.

Enjoy the 5-star meal!

For the printer friendly chicken recipe, click here
For the printer friendly couscous recipe, click here